Buying out my lease in VA. I got an offer from a dealership to buy my car (after I purchase it). This is not the originating dealer where I leased the vehicle. The original dealer I leased from told me that if I sell it to another dealer I may be liable to pay for taxes/fees again? The original dealer said if I sell to them they would be exempt from those charges and I wouldn’t have to pay either. Cant find any info online about this, any ideas?
It really depends on the leasing company. Some will allow 3rd party buyouts- most will not. If the dealership has the same brand of vehicle in the dealership group this should not be an issue (unless it is Tesla or Volvo)- 3rd party companies like Ally or USB create a separate issue. If they do not it is possible you would need to buy out and then sell.
What leasing company are you dealing with now?
Dealers don’t pay tax.
What car is this? Give us more details so we can help
Technically, it’s true. But you can take your lease as the proof of paid taxes to the DMV and make your case there. They will not collect the sales tax again.
Read here:
The leasing company is Ally Bank. They don’t block 3rd party buy outs but they do charge more for a 3rd party buy out. It’s about 5k over my residual. So I opted to buy the car myself, then sell it. The car is a 2019 Jeep Wrangler.
VA sales tax has nothing to do with the leasing company.
Great info in that link you posted. Thanks! But it seems like if I get the title, re-title in my name and show that I paid sales tax upfront to the DMV, I should be able to sell the car to any dealership/person I choose and not just the originating dealer. Or am I reading it wrong?
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2019 Jeep Wrangler.
Like @Ursus said, you’ve already paid taxes on the selling price of the vehicle when you leased it. Follow the link he posted.
Gee, I wonder if they might have some vested interest in telling you this 
Correct. Once you own the vehicle, ie have a title in your name, you can sell it to whoever you want to.
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Thanks. This is prob case by case, but will any dealer buy the car from me if the title is still in Ally’s name (even if I provide bill of sale?)
No. Get the title and then sell to any dealer you want at the price you want.
Just a dicey situation I’m weighing. If it takes weeks to get the title, dealers may not honor the price they are giving me for the vehicle.
You should be ready to keep your car if prices drop, obviously.
Yeah the appraisal will expire and will need a new one, but the value of a 2019 Wrangler shouldn’t drop too much
It really depends on how long Ally takes to send you the title. When I bought out my Volvo last month, I received the title from VCFS in 72 hours. Went to the DMV with all the necessary paperwork (including my lease contract showing I previously paid the sales tax) and walked out with a title in my name in less than 30 minutes.
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Thanks everyone. Ended up buying out my lease, getting Ally to expedite my title to me (which was in Ally’s name). Took the title to the DMV along with my lease contract (showing I paid taxes already), re-titled in my name ($15) and got a new title on the spot, and then sold the car to Carvana after they could verify using autocheck that the title was valid and in my name. Took a bit longer than expected but all went smoothly.
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Thanks for the update, so 30 days all around?
Took Ally about 2 days after receiving the payoff check to notate it in my account. Then they emailed me docs to sign which took 1 day. They overnighted the title to me, 1 day. Set up a DMV appointment as early as I could, 3 days after receiving title. New title given on spot. Took about a week for Carvana to verify the title. Made a Carvana appt 2 days after the title was verified. Car sold. All in all took roughtly 16 days to buy car/re-title/re-sell.
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Very nice, I had heard stories about Ally being dicks about things, but yours seems smooth.